Dave's Music #144 Abbie Gardner - Dobrosinger
Now for today's I'm actually expecting Abbie Gardner's May's release "Dobrosinger" to start showing up in best of lists. I bought the Pre-Release in March and got the rest of the Album in May. May was a truly busy time for me being the first month of retirement, I dived quickly into so many projects that I really didn't give this album enough listens to appreciate it. On Nov. 9th, I saw this post and decided I needed to fix that, and boy am I happy I did.
Of course before I start I love to dive into what others have said, American Songwriter said,
Abbie put those abilities front and center on the aptly named DobroSinger, a collection of mostly low-cast, unembellished songs adhering to a decidedly rootsy regimen. Consequently, the collection sounds like an archival offering gleaned from the mountains of Appalachia or other heartland habitats. That said, the majority of the material consists of original compositions that emulate an archival approach.
Of course I think I need more feathery words in my blog. Bluegrass Today is a little more simply written and dives into the fact she pulls off a great recording of just her voice and dobro.
One of the advantages of having such sparse instrumentation is that it allows the listener to connect with the material on an even deeper level. Gardner’s delivery on each of these songs is spectacular. You can’t help but be drawn to her voice. It forces you to pay attention to what the lyrics are conveying. The interplay between Abbie’s vocals and her dobro makes for a captivating listen, particularly on Honky Tonk Song.
Right... who needs drums, bass, fiddles and guitars when you can master a dobro like Abbie. Acoustic Guitar captured what I felt about the release.
You can hear every nuance of the slide, smooth one moment or rattling slightly at the end of a phrase like punctuation; and her intimate, pitch-perfect vocals—wistful, playful, confessional—sound like they’re dancing with the guitar.
Guitar Girl documented the nerve pain Abbie experienced while recording this album.
While recording DobroSinger Gardner started having nerve pain in her hands and neck. At one point she was limited to only three minutes per day with her instrument. She says, “It’s terrifying for a musician’s ability to play to be threatened in this way. It really messes with your sense of identity, not to mention career plans.”
Rather than look at it as a limitation, she looked at it as an opportunity. The experience led her back to Occupational Therapy where she started studying hand therapy with the intention to eventually help other musicians with similar problems while seeking out a greater understanding of her own issues. “This is something 90% of musicians go through (as far as injuries and overuse anyway) but for some reason, there’s shame and fear attached to it. I guess I’m navigating that side of it too.” She’s taking a while to regain strength and learn to play in a way that doesn’t cause pain, but that isn’t keeping her from planning for the future.
Oh my, tough going for a woman who all I ever see in photos is of her laughing and smiling. I might hear more about it if I take 45 minutes to listen to this interview on Sing Out! For as long as it took for me to listen close to the album, I'm documenting the link and will come back to it someday.
Now what would I immediately say about this album, well since I missed seeing Abbie at the Great River Folk Fest because Red Molly had to cancel due to some children being born... (ha Love & Life Happens), this album is like inviting her into my house to play one of our Bluff View House Concerts, and I would get a recording of it. (See the Treats I do this regularly) Of course the recording that Abbie has is absolutely top notch and you can hear it all so crisply. Now what it doesn't have is any banter, so Abbie was polite enough to pass me the liner notes to add clarity to the songs, and I'm sharing them rather then retyping them.... yes I resemble lazy sometimes.
A perfectly structured blues song, that was released early just to get you hooked; and it did.
Plus this one we get a great video... just like it was likely recorded
